Dealing With Headaches

The complete title is Headche Survival: The Holistic Medical Treatment Program for Migraine, Tension and Cluster Headaches, but the book is only 260 pages long with large print and wide margins, so you know right away that this far less than a comprehensive guide. It was published in 2002, so you already know that some medical information may be out of date. It was co-written by Robert S Ivker, D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) and Todd Nelson, N.D. (Doctor of Nursing degree).

Head’s spinning already, isn’t it?

It Sucks

Hey, I have two college degrees (Liberal Arts and English), so when I say, “It sucks”, I have the schooling to back my review up. The main problem with the book is that the authors don’t get migraines, tension headaches or cluster headaches. Ivker claimed to have cured his sinus problems (and the sinus headaches with it), but that’s not the same as migraines, tension-type headaches and cluster headaches. The book would have been better off to claim that it can help people with sinus headaches and possibly tension-type headaches, but seems to wander off into the stratosphere whenever cluster headaches or migraines are mentioned.

Ivker’s best known book is called Sinus Survival, which my Mom read years ago and can’t remember anything about. Ivker is an expert on dealing with sinuses and allergies (and does a pretty good job giving suggestions on handling stress) but a lot of what he recommends doesn’t seem to have any practical application for those with migraines and cluster headaches.

The book is also very poorly organized. In the beginning of the book, Ivker says basically, “the first thing I want you to do, Reader, is go take the Quiz in Chapter 3 and then go through the list in Chapter Five and then come back here.” Flipping around a book like that is not really an option for people with migraines and cluster headaches. We can just barely manage turning one page at a time, let alone flip through here, there and everywhere.

In Summary

You can’t find anything in this book that isn’t already up on websites, YouTube video serials and blogs. In fact, you are better to get your information from your doctor and the web as this gives you the latest breaking news, theories and testimonies by people with the same problems as you.

Wow. Complaining about the book has actually cleared up my current sinus headache.

It’s nearly been a month since I started taking verapamil as a daily preventative for migraines. So fat in July I have had a grand total of one migraine (knock on wood). I have had sinus headaches and barometric pressure headaches, but they are far more manageable with over the counter painkillers for me than a migraine, which basically knocks me right into a fetal position.

The Good News

I had an appointment with Dr. Fountain-of-Youth-Face this morning, and so far all is going about halfway according to plan. I don’t have to see him again for another six months, unless things get worse. I can also check back in a couple of weeks or so to see if he received any more free triptan nasal spray samples.

I also received a prescription for the dreaded Imitrex. However, it looks like my insurance will cover most of it and I will only have to pay the co-pay, so I might as well give it a go. I had tried the Zomig nasal spray samples and wanted to continue with that, but we’re not sure if Zomig would be covered by my health insurance. Since Imitrex (which is covered) is an inbred cousin to Zomig, I’ll be using that.

Isn’t health care in America fun, boys and girls?

The Not-So-Bad News

My Mom has noted that sometimes I get a little trippy after I began verapamil. I guess sobbing after last week’s Greatest American Dog was a tip off. (But I loved Elvis the Jack Russel from New York!) Also, on my first day on verapamil, I complained to Mom about the evil church cathedral organ music being played — somewhere in the world. I couldn’t hear it — but I knew it was being played, and that annoyed me.

The next day, the music that I couldn’t hear was gone. This week I’ve been upped to two mini-pills with the hope that I can take three pills.

This is goign to be fun.

In this time of a “not recession”, you have to do what you can in order to pinch pennies. But one thing you can’t afford to do is take painkillers from questionable sources. One of the most popular painkillers in recent years is fentanyl (a memeber of the always memorable opiod family). Although usually given to cancer patients and those suffering chronic excrutiating back pain, it sometimes is given to migraineurs or for othe painful headaches. Since there is such a demand for fentanyl, there are those who will exploit that need.

What We Know

This demand has lead to 1,013 deaths in the last two years, says a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most of these deaths occurred around the cities of Camden, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. These deaths weren’t from fentanyl, but from “fake fentanyl”, which often was mixed with cocaine. As you can imagine, the kick from this mix was quite powerful. The CDC reports estimates the high is “30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin.”

What We Don’t Know

The CDC also notes that they don’t know “the total picture” when it comes to how many people die from fake fentanyl, as the report only covered two states (Delaware and New Jersey) and several cities. It does not cover all fake fentanyl deaths in America.

The report also does not distinquish between those who were taking the fake fentanyl as a more affordable form of pain medication as oppposed to those who were drug addicts. Because of the increibly ridiculous cost of heath care in America, I wouldn’t be surprised if a good number of those deaths were from people in pain who were self-medicating.

It is thought that the number of fake fentanyl deaths dropped sharply once a Teluco, Meixco factory was shut down. But chances are there are many more illegal factories in place. Although it may be tempting to buy street drugs for pain management, you just can’t be sure of what your drug is going to be made out of.

Perhaps you’re better off robbing a pharmacy. (Just a joke, folks! But becoming more of a possibility as health care costs in America continue to rise).

It’s only thirty seconds long, but it packs a whallop. Remember way back when YouTube was asking people to send in videotaped questions for the Presidential primaries? Although this question from Anthony Amabile in New Castle, Pennsylvania was specifically aimed at the candidates, it also can be aimed at everyone in America, too.

A little cluster headache round-up:

• Cluster headaches attack men more than women
• Their cause is unknown
• They are not migraines
• They tend to begin about an hour and a half after you go to sleep and then last for a few hours, finally receeding
• One of the most promising treatments is called oxygen therapy, which Anthony refers to here
• You get them every night for weeks
• It can be months or years between attacks, although there are some poor sods who have what’s called “minimum cycle cluster attacks” and do not get a break
• It is strongly advised that anyone suffering from cluster headaches should stay away from alcoholic drinks. It is thought alcohol might trigger an attack
• Health care in America sucks … but I guess you already knew that

Here’s a quick round up of the most common serious medical conditions that have migraine pain as one of their symptoms. This will hopefully let you know when a migraine isn’t just a migraine. Keep in mind that you need to get to a hopsital if you ever get migraines with unsual symptoms like these:

• Numbness or paralysis on one side of your body
• Dizziness or trouble keeping your balance

Vertigo (when you feel you are stanging still but the world is whirling about you)

• Sudden hearing loss in just one ear
• Projectile vomiting

Brain Tumor

Usually, your memory and your ability to talk is affected, too, as well as having all of the lovely syptoms above. This is very rare.

Meningitis

You also have a fever and a stiff neck as well as a migraine pain with this one. Sometimes you get strange red spots on your skin as well. Don’t wait — you must get to a hopsital ASAP.

Stroke

The symptoms of a first migraine and a stroke are so similar that often a migraine can be misdiagnosed as a stroke until certain tests are done. The hopsital staff might insist on treating you for stroke even if you tell them that you think it’s a migraine.

Aneurysm

When a blood vessel in your head bursts. This comes on amazingly suddenly without warning. There are incredible advances in saving people from this once always lethal condition.

Acute Sinusitis

To know if you have sinusitis, try to say the phrase “dead tea bag”. If it comes out sounding like “nen kneeth nith”, BINGO, you have sinuitis. Although not life-threatning, it is amazingly painful and can leave you paniced and confused.

Glaucoma

Occassionally, the onset of glaucoma can bring on painful migraines. You don’t need to go to the hospital for this one, but you do need to see your doctor (or grope in the darkness, anyway).

Post Traumatic Injury and Concussion

Chances are, you’ll already be on the way to the hospital after a major accident that generally involves you head coming in contact with something it shouldn’t have. Even if you are alone and take a tumble and then start a migraine, you better call an ambulance. Don’t drive yourself.

Hope this helps and that you’re not too paranoid now.

I was doing pretty good for nearly two weeks, but then I got hammered by head pain last night. The hammer centered on the left side of my face and centered on the side of my nose, behind my eye, eyebrow and ear. Looking at this episode in the cold light of day (or humid light of day, as in the case for the Philadelphia area where I live), I think it was a bad sinus headache as opposed to a migraine (which, for me, usually is on the right side of my head.) The upshot is that I didn’t get much sleep.

How Do You Get Comfortable?

One of the best thing you can do with any kind of severe head pain, be it the Sinus Headache From Hell or a migraine is to lie down in a dark room. Hopefully, you can then get to sleep and sleep off the attack. However, that advice is MUCH easier said than done. Here is some advice from fellow migraineuers about trying to sleep when an attack hits.

Last night, for example, my pillows felt like shifting rocks. My mattress wasn’t much better. I seemed to be more aware of the pain by trying to stay still than I was when I sat up, rocked in place and moaned.

Since I had slight relief sitting up, I sat up, turned on the relatively dim fishtank light and watched my goldfish beg in the twilight.

Imaginary Friends

I also talk to my goldfish. I don’t care if they understand me or not — I’ve got to do something to try and distract me from the pain. I couldn’t talk to the dog because she was snoring away like a fuzzy freight train. Nothing interrupts her beauty sleep. She can even sleep through fireworks.

All of my life — probably even in the womb — I’ve talked to imaginary friends. In my case, most of my friends just happen to reside in toy horses and photos of Peter Gabriel. I just talk to them about something else other than my head pain and within an hour I’m able to relax enough to try and go back to sleep. Of course, if one of them ever talks back to me one day (”Shut up! We’re trying to sleep!”) then I’ll know that my migraines are getting REALLY bad.

Where you go where you die is often referred to as “The Other Side”. It’s a very PC term for your favorite after-death party house. Personally, I call it The Summerland, but even I forget to call it that half the time. Whatever your spirituality calls it, are there migraines in that dimension of existence?

The Evidence

According to many holy texts, psychics and those who have experienced near death experinces, there are a lot of things on Earth that are not avilable on The Other Side. Two of these are food and bathrooms. Suppossedly, you don’t need to eat on The Other Side, but I really doubt this. Knowing human beings, we will eat whether we have digestive organs or not. And that food has to go somewhere.

Also, you don’t have to sleep on The Other Side because it’s always day or twilight and never night. I don’t like that. If I don;t get proper sleep, I’m certain to get a migraine. If no one sleeps, then there aren’t any comfortable places to sleep. Some spiritualities claim that we live in the clouds. I don’t trust sleeping on clouds. Quite frankly, I don’t trust doing much of anything on clouds. They’re so changeable. You can never depend on them. Besides, I really don’t know clouds at all.

In Conclusion

In reading all of this evidence, I have come to the conclusion that there are, indeed, migraines in the afterlife. On The Other Side, there is no place to sleep, no food to digest properly and no bathrooms. These can all lead to major migraine triggers. No wonder we reincarnate so often instead of just flitting about in paradise for the rest of eternity. We need the bathroom, something to eat and a lie down. Alll in all, migraineurs seem to have it better here on this side of eternity.

Nothing’s ever easy, is it?

Last year, when my Mom was getting consultations for spinal sugery, (which turned out to be successful), we walked into her surgeon’s office. It was stacked with trays of gourmet food. “Ah,” said Mom. “I see the drug reps have been here.”

“I don’t prescribe drugs,” said the surgeon, and then laughed at the absurdity of his statement.

Mom’s surgeon will still be able to get free food sent to his office by representatives of Big Pharma, but that’s about it. All of the free office supplies emblazoned with logos (making a pen, coffe mug or notepad look like it was ready for NASCAR). All of that has now been banned by the Phramecuetical and Research Manufacturers of America (The ban is, of course, just in America). The ban takes effect in January, 2009.

Why The Free Stuff?

Since doctors are the only legal people to prescribe drugs, companies make sure they court evey doctor they come across with the same ardour as Howard Hughes collecting actresses (except the doctors see the drug reps a lot more than Hughes was suppossed to see his harem). They shower doctors with all kinds of goodies — not just lunches and office supplies. Years ago, doctors were given such perks as free vacations, free concert tickets or even free small appliances. They got all of this whether they actually prescribed the company’s drugs or not.

Those more expensive gifts were dropped to legal pressure on Big Pharma to stop wasting on so much money pimping their drugs. That’s when the first annoying drug television ad campaign hit American airwaves. Big Pharma does anything it can to keep the costs of their drugs high — and that means big bucks spent in advertising. In this way, they can “justify” costs.

No Free Lunch

Gradually, the general public and lawmakers are catching on to all of Big Pharma’s tricks. This ban is the latest modification to start forcing Big Pharma to lower the costs of their products. It remains to be seen whether Big Pharma will actually lower their costs — chances are, they will just find some other way of blowing a huge bundle on advertising. I can just see Imitrex logos now on race cars.

The Non-Profit Group No Free Lunch offers a “pen anmesty program” where it offers to replace pens that doctors would otherwise receive from drug companies. The doctors have to send the drug-emblazoned pens to them in exchange for pristine pens that only have the brand of the penmaker on them. The group then donates the evil druggie pens “to a worthwhile cause”.

Just on a personal note, when my doctors discover that I am a freelance writer, I suddenly get showered with pens before I leave the office. The pen I’m using right now (when not on the keyboard, that is) has a Zaditor logo on it (Zaditor has nothing to do with treating any medical problem I have, sadly). My doctors are clearly as sick of free pens from drug companies as the Pharmecuetical Reasearch and Manufactuerers of America.

However, they won’t give me any of their coffee mugs.

Many people who suffer with migraines or chronic headaches take medicines called “preventives” or “abortives”. Or, perhaps they are like me and take both kinds. Until recently, I didn’t think there was ANY difference between an abortive and preventative medication, and I have two college degrees. I was recently set straight by my primary doctor, Dr. Fountain Of Youth Face.

However, if I made the mistake, then perhaps other readers out there in the blogosphere will, too. I’ve seen the terms used interchangeably in medical websites, and I’m sure I’m guilty of doing the same thing on this blog. I’ll be going back through some of my older posts to correct that mistake.

Anyway…

An abortive medication stops something once it already begins. Such a medicine would be Zomig nasal spray, or Imitrex (sumatriptan), which is taken as soon as you feel a migraine coming on. (And remember — an abortive does NOT mean it will give you a sudden abortion. It’s just a name.)

On the other hand, a preventive medicine stops anything from even starting in the first place. In the wacky world of migraines, you would have to take this medicine every day, no matter how you were feeling. Such a medicine would be DHE. Another medication would be verapamil, which is actually a high blood pressure medication that (as a side effect) often reduced the frequency of migraine attacks in migraineurs.

Still, It’s Not A Cure All

No matter if you take an abortive or a preventive medication (or both), you still need other painkillers, ways of coping with stress and to identify and avoid anything that might trigger a migraine. Keeping a headache journal helps you identify your triggers.

Hope this helps.

This isn’t the best YouTube clip in the world, but it does have a certain amount of charm and is (probably) unintentionally quite funny. I’m not a big fan of the slide-show style of YouTube clips, but in this case, it works. “Home Remedies for Migraine Headaches” pairs some stock photography and cute clip art with some easy-to-read information on folk remedies for migraines. I don’t know what the music is playing behind it, but sadly, it cuts off. It sounds a bit like Deep Forest.

This was posted by YouHerbal.com (which sounds a little like name-calling — “Hey, you! You herbal, you!”) which is a site that sells (ta da) herbal and food-related remedies for various ailments, as well as a lot of bottles of capsules. Keep in mind that just because something is natural, doesn’t mean that it’s good for you. You can get side effects from herbal remedies just as you can with prescription medicines. And never slam back an herbal remedy without talking to your doctor first. (However, aromatherapy you can tinker with without a doctor’s supervision.)

Also, as an English major, I couldn’t help but notice some capitalization and grammatical errors. If that gives you a headache, then you’d best skip this clip and check out one of my older posts on folk remedies for headaches. Otherwise, enjoy!

A recent study in The Cohrane Library published in the Land of Oz (Australia, of course) concludes that oxygen therapy may significantly help those suffering from cluster headaches or migraines. 210 human guinea pigs volunteered to participate in nine small studies around Oz in order to compare treatments. Cluster headeadche patients, in partuicular, did much better than placebos after 15 minutes of breathing in an oxygen chamber.

Normobaric and Hyperbaric Therapy

There are two kinds of oxygen therapies. Sadly, just breathing in and out like usual doesn’t count. Anyway, normobaric oxygen therapy refers to breathing pure oxygen from an oxygen tank. Buy hyperbaric oxygen therapy (the one considered so promising) involves going in a chamber and breathing pure oxygen. Why the chamber? The chamber is put under pressure.

No, I have no idea what this means, either.

Which Leads Us To The Problem

Finding an oxygen chamber is just about as hard as trying to comprehend oxygen therapy. Critics of the Oz study point out that the migraine or cluster headache might even be over before the patient can begin snorting the pure oxygen. Also, oxygen tanks are highly flammable (not that this hasn’t stopped us from driving cars). However, this could be a first step in finding a far more practical solution.

Meanwhile, keep on taking your usual medicine.

This post is aimed more for American readers. My apologies to non-American readers. You can go look at Brad Pitt photos here.

Anyway, American Migraineurs…

A petition to Congress has been started by Diana Lee of Headache Blog Carnival and Somebody Heal Me fame. It’s currently up on iPeteitions.com. This is a non-profit site, so expect to be asked for a donation after you electronically sign the petition.

This petition is to ask Congress to rethink the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007, which suggests all public places replace their lighting with CFL bulbs. (I’m really paraphrasing the Act here, so if I painted the picture of potential public lighting with too broad a brush, I apologize.) These bulbs have been proven to trigger migraines in the headache-prone.

Although the makers of CFL bulbs constantly say their bulbs do not flicker, they sure do. It’s very slight, but it is enough to make my life and the lives of many other American migraineurs miserable. I can’t have them in my house. I hate to think I’ll be trapped in my house because I can’t tolerate the lighting anywhere else. I think they’re a great idea, but needs a design overhaul to elimnate the flickering.

What About the Planet

Considering all of the crap things we humans are doing to the planet, lightbulbs are really far down the list. Cutting out human overpopulation, strengthening public transportation, curbing our ridiculous buying habits, dropping our consumption of red meat and taxing the tar out of Big Oil will should be far up on our priority list because they have far more impact ont he planet than trying to these little piddling things like ban cigarette smoking, ban trans fats and change out lightbulbs.

There is no magic bullet to climate change and the environmental crisis. Heck, in the state of Pennsylvannia, you can’t even get the citizens to agree that there IS such a thing as a climate crisis. But making everyone in the country use light bulbs that make us sick is not going to help anything exept get the 30 million or so American migraineurs really ticked off.

Thank you and good light…I mean, good night!

Yesterday, Mom and I went to one of my favorite museums in the world, the Brandywine River Museum at Chadds-Ford, on the Philadelphia Main Line. It’s the main museum of the Wyeth family (including Andrew and Jamie). Today, they had a special exhibition of work by English equine and canine artist Sir Alfred Munnings. Although I do not condone horse racing, I do still admire the horse racing and foxhunting paintings of Sir Alfred, which only make up a small part of his overall work.

But, as anyone prone to chronic headaches knows, museums can be a potential trigger for massive pain. You have to prepare in advance to thwart a headache to not end your day hunched in the road by the side of the car moaning in pain and nausea. I don’t know about you, but that always spoils my museum trips a bit.

Be Ruthless

My best advice to avoid headaches at museums is to not try to see everything in the museum. Don’t even try to scrutinize every single detail on one floor. This leads to severe eye-strain that can and usually does trigger severe headaches, if not a migraine. Plan in advance which exhibit or floor you want to concentrate on and then take all the time you want there. If you’re not sure which floor to concentrate on, just let your instinct take you to the floor.

One of the reasons the Brandywine River Museum is so close to my heart is that it is small enough not to trigger a migraine. The Philadelphia area is thick with museums, including the world famous Art Museum in center city (most famous for the steps Slyvester Stallone ran up in Rocky.) However, the Art Museum is a definate migraine or headache trigger just for the visual overload. Pick one type of art or a specific exhibit and leave the rest alone.

Eat Breakfast

Going to a museum is exciting and mind-expanding (or, at least, it is for me). You will use up a surprising amount of energy going through the museum, even though you are going at a snail’s pace. It could be the senosry overload that wears you out. You need to eat a good breakfast (or lunch, depending on the time you visit) in order for your body to have the calories to get you through.

Otherwise, you will get a bad headache from being so darn tired.

Pack Painkillers With You

Keep them in your pocket, your purse or wherever, but be sure to take them. I also take a dose right before I leave the house. I use an over the counter painkiller to take the worst of the pain off, but you might need to take a nasal spray or other kind of medication, depending on your headache history.

Get Somebody Else To Drive

You might not be able to avoid this one, but if you can, it takes so much stress off of you. You don’t have to tense up worrying if you have the strength to drive safely home — thus, triggering a headache. Take public transportation if you can and trains over buses, since trains tend to swifter and smoother.

If you have to drive yourself, then pack a light lunch in the car and leave it in a thermal lunch box in the car. That way you can relax and recharge in the car. A car is your own little territory, which is easier to realx in than a public space like a cafe. And take all the time you need driving home.

Hope this helps.

I first heard about ear candling through James’ Headache & Migraine News Blog. I thought he was joking. You know , in the same way the some people consider NASCAR a sport and Paris Hilton a celebrity. Sooner or later, someone is going to pop out and say, “Decades-long-April Fool! Ha!” Then, my life would make that much more sense.

Welcome to the Real World

Unfortunately, James wasn’t kidding and my own Dad became a NASCAR fan. Although I have had to bitterly accept the latter, part of me still holds out hope that ear-candling is the world’s biggest online hoax. However, I had a client ask me if I was intersted in writing a series of How To articles on ear candling to treat vertigo and sinus headaches. I had to say no, but was astounded that the request was serious.

I’m Not Against CAM Therapies, But

I do happen to be proponent of complimentary and alternative therapies, especailly those I have tried myself. However, I can’t get behind ear candling. Now, how do you tell if a CAM therapy is probably a bunch of crap and better left alone?

• You stick something inside of your body and then SET IT ON FIRE
• You are given a scare tactic that you have poisons inside of your body that need to come out. Unless you just chugged cobra venom, you really don’t have much to worry about. These poisions are usually just called “toxins” and are rarely, if ever, given specific names.
• You’re told it’s a Native American tradition and all the Native Americans you know are asked about ear candling, reply with, “Say WHAT?”
• You stick something inside of your body and then SET IT ON FIRE. I realized I’ve repeated myself there, but it can’t be stressed enough — fire and your body do not mix.

Hope this helps.

It’s a beautiful day in the Pain-er-hood
A beautiful day for a neighbor… Howdy, neighbor! Hope you are having a great day. No? You say your life sucks because of acute migraines, which really aren’t so cute? Well, follow me to the Land of Make Believe, otherwise known as the wacky world of Phase I Clinical Test trials for new drugs, where anything can happen and usually does.

Can You Say ‘Transdermal’? Sure You Can!

One of the suppossed breakthroughs in modern medicine is the creation of the transdermal patch. That’s one of those white bandage doo-hickeys you tape to your body and then absorb the medicine bit by bit through your skin. This really isn’t much different than the medicinal poltices or herbal compresses native healers have used for thousands of years. However, it wasn’t hip until the success (read=lots of money made) on the nicotene patch.

Why am I not keen on transdermal patches? Because I have realtives who can’t have them because for some strange reason their bodies soak up all of the goodies in the patch IMMEDIATELY. This has lead to some very sick relatives. However, those that used the nictoene patch when they tried to quit smoking were pretty happy until they found out why they were so happy.

The Latest Future Star

NP101 is the trail name of the transdermal patch for acute migraines that has done well so far. It is put out by NuPathe, Inc, a very small pharmaceutical company reported to be “privately held” (sounds painful.) The patch is a combination of sumatriptan (the active medicine in Imitrex) and “NuPathe’s SmartRelief™ proprietary iontophoretic transdermal technology”. (No, I don’t know what that means, either, but it sure sounds impressive, doesn’t it?)

The Nitty Gritty

NP101 was tested against Imitrex nose spray, tablet and injections. There were 23 human guinea pigs descibed as “healthy”. I assume that means the subjects were not prone to migraines if they were “healthy” and that the migraines were chemically induced. I could not find details of that fact on the Internet or in NuPathe’s press release.

The big hope is that the patch can give you the same relief as with triptans, but without the wacky side effects. It didn’t give any serious side-effects to the 23 volunteers except swelling of the skin at the patch site. Although some reports say this patch will be availbale in a year, odds are with the way Phase II and Phase III Trials have gone for other drugs recently, that it will be at least two years.

Whoops. That’s all the time we have for this episode, boys and girls. Time to go back to real world where all your dreams are clouded by a haze of blinding migraine pain and splintering dry heaves. Bye for now!